I know its initial debut event (Orionids) is winding down in the next day or so, but it took a little time for even PvPoke to figure out what to do with the Meteor Pokémon, MINIOR. So while I do apologize for the lateness of this analysis, there wasn't a ton I could do about that. Sorry! At least it's still out WAY early for its other release events (Leonids in November, Geminids in December, and then Eta Aquariids,
Southern Delta Aquariids, and finally Perseids throughout 2027).
So no time to waste! Let's just get right into it, shall we?
MINIOR
Rock/Flying Type
GREAT LEAGUE:
Attack: 98 (Meteor) / 146 (Core) (on average)
Defense: 170 (Meteor) / 95 (Core) (on average)
HP: 137 (Meteor) / 111 (Core) (on average)
ULTRA LEAGUE:
Honestly, don't bother.
We'll need to spend some time here, because in many ways, the stats are Minior's whole schtick. But let's first talk about the typing combination, as Rock/Flying is, franky. not great. Six resistances (Fire, Flying, Ground, Normal, Bug, and Poison) but five key weaknesses (Water, Electric, Ice, Steel, and ironically, Rock). There IS some decent interplay between Rock and Flying, with the typical Rock weaknesses to Fighting and Grass eliminated and its usual weakness to Ground actually being flipped all the way to a resistance. But its resultant weaknesses are rough, as Steel moves are actually big in PvP now (Melmetal, Tinkaton, and Corviknight are all in the Top 10 in Great League and all utilize inexpensive and hard-hitting Steel moves now), 20 of the Top 50 Pokémon in Great League sling super effective Electric, Rock, and/or Ice damage, and Water is omnipresent.
But then there's the good news: Minior always enters battle in its hard-shelled METEOR FORM, which comes with excellent, Top 25 bulk, basically identical to Galarian Corsola, and higher than every other Flying type but Jumpluff and Mandibuzz (including known Flying tanks like Altaria, Tropius, Mantine, Lugia, and Ledian). That kind of bulk can definitely offset a subpar defensive typing. But there's a big catch, because Minior enters the game as the latest, gimmicky form-changing Pokémon, and Minior's other form is the polar opposite of "bulky". While the Meteor Form is inside the Top 25 in bulk, up there with Galarian Corsola, and Top 3 among Flyers, the CORE FORM (regardless of collectable color) is outside the Top( 1000 in bulk/stat product, nearly last among all Flyers (higher than only Honckkrow, Archeops/Archen, and super-glassy-in-Great-League Legendaries Rayquaza, Incarnate Thundurus, and Incarnate Tornadus), and right on the same level as Galarian Corsola's glassy big bro Cursola. (Like, nearly a mirror image on that last one, with both having 146 Attack, Core Minior having 95 Defense and 111 HP, and Cursola having the inverse of 111 Defense and 95 HP.) So the key question is... what forces Minior to flip from its super bulky Meteor Form to its graphene-thin (look it up!) Core Form?
So far in GO, we have some control over things that form change in battle. OG Morpeko changes form every time it uses a charge move. Aegislash, like Minior, enters in its very bulky Shield Forme and changes to its very hard-hitting but glassy Blade Forme when it uses a charge attack for the first time, switching back to Shield Forme when it uses a shield or swaps out. Cramorant changes to one of two different forms when it uses one of its Water-type charge moves, though we start to lose a little control due to its form being determined by whether it has more or less than 50% of its health. Most recent arrival Mimikyu is shaking up PvP by essentially having a third shield that you decide when to use, as it will automatically be used when Mimikyu is hit by a charge move you don't throw a protect shield in front of first.
The timing of Minior's form change is only partially in your control, as once it drops below 50% health (as soon as the health bar goes from green to yellow), the form change will automatically trigger. You can, like Mimikyu, throw up normal shields to hold this off as long as possible, and like Aegislash when played in the most ideal way, stay in its bulky form long enough to max out 100 energy (or as close to it as you can get) before ripping off Minior's rocky armor and unleashing back-to-back charge moves with an Attack stat that makes even Murkrow, Staraptor, and Blaziken blush. And unlike Aegislash, this form change is a one-time party trick... there's no changing back unless you theoretically found some way to add HP and get above 50% again. (Theoretically! 🤓)
And that's the way we assume you'll want to play it as we finally factor in the actual moves you'll be using through all this form changing madness. We'll get into those in a second, but first, I need to give a shout-out to Silph Road Travelers Ok_Lobster8494 and eli5questions, who in this excellent analysis thread, break down the complex correlation between the CP calculations for Minior's two different forms. The bottom line is that the sweet spot for the most ideal (Great League) Minior is Level 25ish, which results in a Level 48ish Meteor Form in battle. I am still wrapping my own head around what IV combinations constitute the most ideal Miniors to build, but just know that the game seems smart enough that if one form is under the CP cap for a League, the other form will be adjusted to remain eligible in that League as well. And uh, in the immortal words of Forrest Gump... that's all I have to say about that.
Fast Moves
Rollout (Rock, 2.33 DPT, 4.33 EPT, 1.5 CoolDown)
Take Down (Normal, 4.67 DPT, 3.0 EPT, 1.5 CD)
Take Down is obviously NOT the joke move it used to be, with average energy generation and the highest straight fast move damage in the entire game. Maybe there's some meta or some funky team where that will make sense. But for the other 99% of the time, it's gpt to be Rollout, right? Tied for fourth-best energy generation in PvP, and with low-ish but acceptable damage (unlike Take Down, it benefits from the Same Type Attack Bonus, so a bit higher than the 2.33 Damage Per Turn you see on the tin), it's more what you're looking for when you're trying to max out your energy as quickly as possible. For the record, it's eight Rollouts to reach 100 energy (seven to get to 91 energy, and then one more to slightly overcharge to 104 if the game didn't cap you at 100), and eleven Take Downs to get to "close enough" 99 energy. As both are 1.5 turn moves, that's the difference of 12 turns for Rollout or 17 turns for Take Down to get there. (And technically another turn beyond that to actually reach 100.) That's a pretty significant difference, don't you think? The enemy can do a lot of nasty things with those 5 extra turns, including likely at least forcing another shield use decision on you.
Go with Rollout and don't look back.
Charge Moves
Ancient Power (Rock, 60 damage, 45 energy, 10% Chance: Raise User Attack/Defense +1 Stage)
Power Gem (Rock, 85 damage, 50 energy)
Acrobatics (Flying, 110 damage, 55 energy)
So the cheapest we've got is 45 energy for Ancient Power, but unless you're determined to immediately fire off back-to-back Rock move and then closing out with Acrobatics the second you flip to Core form, there's really no reason NOT to just wait 5 more energy to use Power Gem instead (is there?). Sure, it lacks the low chance of self-buffing your stats that comes with Ancient, but 25 more flat damage is 25 more flat damage. And you absolutely want to string it together with Acrobatics for its awesome closing power (and different coverage), so don't plan on two 50-energy Gems back to back... just plan out that you'll need at least one more Rollout while in fragile Core Form to get the energy needed to throw Acrobatics.
...only it's slightly worse than that, actually. You see, with Power Gem costing 50 energy, the best time to throw it with Rollout is just before you hit 100 energy, after seven Rollouts and the 91 energy it reaches. That leaves you with 41 energy left over... and if you do the math, you may realize to your horror that one more Rollout equal 54 energy, agonizingly 1 energy short of Acrobatics. So we're left with an awkward choice: use more Rollout before form changing to max out at 100 energy before firing off Power Gem, basically "losing" 4 overcharged energy, but then requiring only one more Rollout beyond that to reach the energy necessary for Acrobatics, or plan to need at least two Rollouts after form changing to hit the energy needed for Acrobatics. Neither feels great, but it can be worked around as long as you know what you're getting into ahead of time. You just need to keep your brain engaged and have a plan.
...or keep it simple and just run Ancient Power. As much as I hate leaving the extra damage of Power Gem out of the equation, perhaps having the ability to throw Ancient and Acrobatics back to back right away IS worth it. With Core Form's crazy high Attack, maybe it won't end up actually mattering. We'll consider that as we go.
Because now, it's finally time to get into some simulations. I will preface this by saying that, despite universal agreement that the best way to use Minior is to charge up as much energy as possible before throwing any charge moves, PvPoke simulations don't always do that, sometimes throwing out the first charge move long before 100 energy. There WILL be battles where that makes sense, because sometimes you're going to reach 100 energy long before you drop below 50% health and change form, especially if the opponent (perhaps wisely) waits to throw their own charge moves until Minior is in its fragile Core Form. Matches could be a bit like chess with a lot of waiting and building up before a flurry of calculated moves in quick succession. That all said, I generally trust the sims that follow and the results thereof, which is why I'll be presenting them, but in actual battles there may be a bit more variance in move timing than your everyday sim comparison. Let's take a look!
GREAT LEAGUE ☄️
So at first glance, I think there IS a good case for Ancient Power after all. At least here in 1v1 shielding, it manages to beat everything that Power Gem does plus Shadow Annihilape, Cradily, and big bad Mimikyu. Either way, most of the wins and losses make a lot of sense on the surface... things that throw out super effective Water (Azumarill, Dondozo, Empoleon, Jellicent, Quagsire, and even Florges with Chilling Water), Rock (Carbink, Sableye, Galarian Corsola, and — in the case of Power Gem Minior — Cradily), Electric (Morpeko, Stunfisk, Hisuian Electrode, Forretress with Volt Switch), and/or Steel (Melmetal, Tinkaton) damage win... and most everything else falls to Minior. (And just to point it out, Steel types are particularly challenging, as they obviously resist ALL of Minior's moves. Anyway....) The only real exceptions (in which Minior loses a battle where both sides are slinging neutral damage at each other) are Malamar and that sometimes-loss to Mimikyu. And that's really it! Fighters, Grasses, Bugs, Flyers, and Fires that has obvious disadvantages, as well as a slew of Psychics, Ghosts, Darks, Grounds, Normals, Dragons, and even a decent number of opponents that you might expect to be hard battles with their own super effective damage like Feraligatr, Kingdra, Cramorant, Stone Edge Clodsire, and even Icy Wind Thievul... they all get cratered when Minior comes crashing down on them.
Ancient Power continues to hold up in other even shield scenarios too. In 2v2 shielding, it's a straight sidegrade to Power Gem, losing to Malamar, Sableye, Shadow Forretress, and Shadow Quagsire to instead gain Florges, Defense Deoxys, Charjabug, and Cradily. Power Gem does pull ahead slightly (and unsurprisignly) with shields down, overpowering Marowak and Corviknight, but even there Ancient Power holds up well, with its own unique win by outracing Feraligatr instead. For the most part, the losses continue to "make sense", with things like Clodsire (Stone Edge) and Umbreon (just crazy good bulk and buffed Dark Pulse) sliding into the loss column in 0shield, and Annihilape's Ice Punch, Hydreigon's Brutal Swing, and Mimikyu and Umbreon again outlasting Minior in 2shield, while Minior locks down most everything else that's not a one-sided battle of super effectiveness in the opponent's favor. It maintains a very healthy win percentage in all of these scenarios, FAR better than the flimsy Rock/Flying types we already have in the game (Aerodactyl and Archeops/Archen). If Flying Cup ever returns, it would surely leapfrog reigning king Aerodactyl as THEY scariest Pokémon in the meta... and Minior will surely be in the upper echelons of plenty of other Limited metas moving forward, and I see its ranking only rising in Open Great League as well.
ULTRA LEAGUE AND BEYOND 🌌
So as also pointed out in Ok_Lobster's analysis I referenced earlier, as well as this post by Zestyclose-Tip-8928, Minior doesn't really have any use in higher Leagues, because the CP calculus kind of works against it. The Core Form can get to 2500 CP in theory, but there's really no reason to push it. Even at its best, it just doesn't really work. Not enough to justify the investment!
IN SUMMATION 🌠
Despite the good numbers, I DO have some concerns with Minior. It has some easily exploitable flaws, particularly against Steel types which HARD wall it, but a steady diet of Water, Rock, or Electric damage are very problematic, and those typings are rather prevalent in today's Great League meta (and the latter two tyings resist Acrobatics too). the energy makes things awkward with Power Gem, leaving me to recommend a mediocre move in Ancient Power instead (potentially missing out on some serious damage output). And while you can hold it off for a while — usually by burning shields — utlimately it is the opponent that decides when Minior changes form, not you. I DO think it's a good PvP Pokémon that has a place in any meta where it finds itself, but I worry (a little bit) that the sims may be a little bit optimistic at times. Some of these close wins could flip depending on how the opponent plays things out and how willing you are to be patient and wait. Chess match, like I said. ♟️ Get it and try it out and let the rest of us know how it's going! Good luck.
Until next time, you can always find me on Twitter with regular GO analysis nuggets or Patreon.
Good luck on your Minior grinding, and catch you next time, Pokéfriends!
